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The sand is a great thing. They can dustbathe in it, and it keeps poo from staying wet & stinky. And then later, when you till the dark sand into the garden beds? Happy veggies!!
I always feel sad when I see a chicken that's never scratched in the dirt. So all mine get to play outside (despite the sun-bleaching that occurs) and scratch around. They also get supervised free-ranging. I have too many to play with everybody, but there are certain birds that
insist on a little extra attention. One millie hen gets mad when I pay attention to my showgirl silkie, and she flies up onto my shoulder to scold me. The d'Uccle voice is so unique!!
There is a huge difference in the foot feathering on my d'uccles that are adults and get to free range in their fenced area of the yard, and my half growns who are largely in pine shavings in and under the coop. The young ones have soft stuff to scratch in, but the older ones have hard Missouri Clay to dull their nails and foot feathers on.
As far as personality goes, my ones with defects seem to have the best personalities, I'm thinking I just need to have a 'personality pet pen' and a 'serious breeding only' pen. I mean, after all, I DO consider them my pets, and the showing/breeding thing is something I'm hoping to learn along the way. I'm going to the state fair next week to see what kind of d'uccles Missouri has to show. I missed the 'late entry deadline' by one day since my scanner was defunct. Since I've only attended one poultry show, it's probably for the best anyway that I stay on the sidelines and watch and learn before I try to jump in and do a line dance.
